Sam Bennett, in the blue points jersey, looked disappointed not to win the final stage in Germany, but he's had the biggest week of his pro career.
Having won two stages of the 2.HC-ranked Bayern Rundfahrt race in Germany, Sam Bennett looked disappointed yesterday not to do the hat trick.
The Irish man riding for Bora Argon 18 was 3rd in the sprint to the line that settled the final stage into Nürnberg.
While he had won the stage last year and taken stage 1 of this year's event last Wednesday and followed it up with another bunch sprint victory on stage 3 on Friday; this time it was home favourite John Degenkolb (Giant Alpecin) who was first over the line.
He edged out Rudiger Selig (Team Katusha), with Bennett just behind in 3rd.
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But Bennett's win on stage 1, his 4th on stage 2 while wearing the yellow jersey, his win on stage 2 to recapture the overall lead and his wearing of yellow in Saturday's time trial before finishing 3rd yesterday easily combined for the biggest week of his career.
The fact he has come back in such good condition from a long layoff after crashing over a month ago at the Scheldeprijs pro race in Belgium bodes very well for the period that will now take him to his first ride in the Tour de France in July.
Sam Bennett is not a specialist time trial rider and so lost his yellow jersey in Saturday's test in Germany. But he's an exceptional sprinter who is morphing into one of the very best in the world at that discipline.
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He beat Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo winner Degenkolb sprinting twice in Germany and also Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), who won five Grand Tour stages last year.
Taking those scalps, not just once but repeatedly, has ushered Bennett into the big time and will give his team full confidence in putting their resources behind him at any race in the future where a sprint is likely.
It means the future now looks very bright indeed for the 24-year-old from Carrick.
Bennett ended the race in 48th place overall, 2:59 behind overall victor Alex Dowsett (Movistar).
The Briton took the yellow jersey from Bennett by winning Saturday's stage 4, 26km, time trial, when the Irishman lost all of his time and slipped down the field, as expected.
Bennett was also 3rd in the points classification.
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